Let's Say It's A Perfect Day
by winterhats
Summary: It feels special. HaruTaka, post STR, one-shot.


_KagePro belongs to Jin and I swear I started writing this as a drabble, pfft... I got carried away, I guess..._

* * *

Takane found herself slowly opening her eyes, and it was only a matter of seconds for the sound of her ringtone's phone to fill her head. The girl sat up on her bed, tiredly wiping her eyes as she tried to grab her phone. Once she was awake enough to recognize the stupid ringtone she had for Haruka (the one he picked for himself, that's why it was so stupid, duh) she could only start to feel rage.

"What?" she hissed when she finally answered, looking at the digital clock beside her bed. It was twelve o' clock, midnight, which made Takane wonder how much she had been sleeping. Wasn't this suppossed to be a nap…? Didn't she… decided to take the nap at… _six_?

"Oh, Takane!" Haruka's voice was even more euphoric than usual, or maybe that's how it sounded like to her, since she still was struggling to wake up all her senses.

"What do you _want_?"

"Ah, sorry, were you sleeping…?" now, he sounded nervous, and the boy tried to force out a chuckle to disimulate that. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to bother you…"

"Why did you call me? Do you have any idea what time it is?" Takane laid down again, smashing the back of her head against her soft pillow. God, here it comes the after waking up headache. "Haruka, you're literally in the room next to mine."

"Y – yeah! Again, I'm sorry! I thought you were awake since you stay up so late playing!" he said, and the girl had to move a little the phone away from her ear. She just woke up; and Haruka wasn't helping her out by being so loud… even if she's not one to call someone loud. "I… um, I just wanted to–"

"To what?"

"To…. Tooo… mmm…?"

Was he trying to make up an excuse? Because he really wasn't doing a good job. If that boy was trying to not let her notice how he regretted what he was actually going to say… it was a bit late. She already noticed. Takane was only too tired to even say anything, so she was only going to let him say whatever it came to his mind and she wasn't going to show any complaints. If she ends up remembering about it by a time she's actually awake… then it'll be it.

"I just wanted to hear you!"

"You just wanted to _hear me_?" the girl answered, as she heard his giggles through the line. Again… too sleepy. Too tired. Maybe later. "Right. Good night."

Takane didn't hear his answer, she hung up.

* * *

 _"Takaaaane I'm so sorry I woke you up last night! I was actually wondering if we could spend the day together…?_ _((_ _・_ _・_ _))_ _?_ _"_

Takane grimaced slightly at the text. It wasn't the contents of the message that caused her reaction, but the time it was received. If it wasn't for this text message she could have gotten extra sleep. And no more than that though, because Kido (she ended up living with the Dan by now–) would have come nagging at her if she stayed in bed too long. As kind and nice that girl is, the leader wasn't the gentlest when repeating to someone to get up for a third time. …Takane learnt that the hard way.

The girl raised a hand and ran it through her wild bed hair, as she started to answer the message, of course with a positive reply. One that didn't comunicate excitement nor antipathy. She still thought it was stupid, though. They are literally living in the same place, why were they talking through texts…?  
She couldn't help feeling nervous for some reason, even if it wasn't the first time Haruka had asked her to hang out a Saturday. But this time it just… felt different. Special.

So she ignores it.

* * *

"Why the aquarium?" Takane asked when Haruka shook the tickets (that he insisted to pay by himself) in front of her face before entering, and she raised an eyebrow.

"Because you said you wanted to see sharks."

"Huh? When did I…?"

"Back then, in highschool," Haruka replied, and his answer only made the stupid shades of pink cover her cheeks. Does he really pay that much attention to what she says…? "I wanted to invite you back then but… I guess I didn't have the opportunity, haha…"

That made her feel a bit sad–

"I've never been into an aquarium, though! This is my first time."

"Really?" she shouldn't be that surprised, since it's not a secret how Haruka hadn't been into so much of those public attractions. "I have… But it was such a long time ago…"

"Oh, but I'm really glad to have my first time with Takane!"

Does he even _listen to what he's saying_?

And, 'for a change', Haruka didn't realize anything wrong about his sentence. Of course she wasn't going to point it out, but it still was embarrassing.

"Still, I kind of… don't like how the poor fishes are all… locked," Haruka pouted, as they kept walking through the aisle. "They should be all free."

"I know, right? But people just don't seem to get it…" Takane agreed, sighing. "But it's not like we could stop something this big."

"Mhm, yeah…" without looking at her, the boy grabbed her hand in what seemed to be an impulse, making Takane jump. "Let's hold hands! So neither of us get lost."

At least that made sense. Although there actually weren't so many things Takane could find scary, being a five feet tall person lost in a crowd was simply _terrifying_. She laced her fingers with Haruka's, silently agreeing to hold hands. And it's okay, and she has to accept that this is definitely not the first time they've ever walked holding hands. They're just friends– probably. Since there are so many things that have happened between them, and by this point, she can't tell what kind of relationship they have. But she'd be lying if she said she wasn't content.

They got into another aisle, but this one, had giant glasses as walls. Fishes of bright colors were swimming all around the crowd walking, and Haruka looked like he could barely focus on walking properly. He seemed delighted, and even if the boy hasn't told her before that it was his first time there, Takane would have noticed it.

"Ah, I didn't think it'd be this pretty, though!" he said, turning his head to her direction. Takane blinked a little, before her cheeks flamed a bright red and looked straight to the glass.

"Y – yeah, it's really pretty," the girl sighed, since until now, she's been more concentrated looking at Haruka than the fishes.

They got to a largest tank, and both of them stared at it in wonder, because it seemed to be empty, but when a giant grouper came literally from _nowhere_ , a little kid next to them started crying for his mom as he clung to her leg. Ah, and Haruka seemed to have jumped a little by the impact as well– and maybe even Takane. Just a little.

"Hey, Takane," Haruka tugged her hoddie, as they walked out of that aisle and both winced a little at the sudden light of the sun on their faces. "Can we go see everything?"

"Weren't we supposed to?" she asked, moving a little to make him let go of her clothes and grab his hand again. "Plus, it's pretty early, and the aquarium closes at night, so…"

"But you don't mind, right? You like being here?" the boy seemed to be actually worried about that, and she only shot him a look.

"If I didn't I wouldn't be here in the first place," she mumbled after a couple of seconds of silence, bringing Haruka's smile back to his face. Takane looked away, trying not to blush again (and failing miserably at it) and her eyes could see a map not that far from them.  
The girl started walking, dragging Haruka with her, who didn't make any questions and only followed her with goofy steps (how can steps be goofy? Just ask Haruka.) The colourful map made Takane realize how big the place was, and how they were literally at the entrance of the place. "Hey, Haruka, where do you want to go next?"

But Haruka was just too concentrated in seeing a man dressed up as an orca. Takane could _feel_ that person's misery. Even so, that didn't prevent her from squishing his hand to draw his attention, which, fortunately, worked.

"Oh, what is it?"

"Where are we going next?"

"Oh, let's see the sharks! You wanted sharks!" he exclaimed, and Takane could _hear_ people giggling by now.

"Idiot, don't yell!" she let go of his hand to pinch his cheek, but _ugh_ , that only brought the girls from her left to whisper the stupid _oh I'm jealous what a cute couple_ and Takane's face was already an unnatural red. She tried to calm down. Public place, Takane. She sighed several times before talking again. "The sharks… are pretty far from here, but here it says that at twelve there is a dolphin show. That's close, and it's going to be twelve in like twenty minutes or so… there are others schedules but–"

"But you want to go see the dolphins now!"

"No! It's just closer!"

"So you _don't_ want to see the dolphins?"

"That's not…!" she shut her mouth before anything, the girl could feel how she was going to start yelling at any minute. _Public place, Takane_ … and Haruka's pout wasn't helping. "Ugh, okay, I want to see the dolphins, happy?"

"Really happy!"

* * *

"Name him."

"I don't know, _you_ name him."

"Okay, I think you should call him Seal."

"…Why?"

"Looks like a Seal to me!"

"I'm pretty sure that's because _it is_ a seal, Haruka."

"He's not an _it_ , Takane," he hugged closer to his chest the giant seal plushie he insisted to buy her, and even if it (sorry, _he_ ) is Takane's now, Haruka had been holding him for a while by now.

"If you like it–"

"Him."

"– _Him_ , that much why don't you just keep him?"

"Because Seal likes you better and he is a gift from me to you, Takane!" Haruka said, bringing the plushie to her face to make as if it was giving her a kiss on the cheek. "And I can go visit him in your room, right?"

"…Right," Takane could hear squaks from fishes she really isn't sure which one could be, and Haruka was busy talking to _Seal the plushie_ about the beluga whales they were watching.

They've seen almost everything by now, but the sky remained its light blue, even if the time was comunicating how it'd be turning into orange soon. It's been such a nice day, Takane thought, even if they haven't seen the sharks yet. They just came back from seeing the manta rays, and they've already watched three shows. And, fortunately, this time she didn't hear so many people's whisper about young couples being cute when they see them– or at least she hasn't hear. Really, why do people even pay attention to them most of the time…?

"Takane!" she heard Haruka practically scream her name, and she winced at it.

"Don't yell!"

"Oh, right! But, it's just, look, the sharks are close! Close!" the second time he said 'close' he said it to the plushie, as if it could actually hear him or do something about it. Before Takane could answer, Haruka was already grabbing her by the arm to drive her into a tunnel of glass that was brighter than the rooms they had previously been in.

And even with sharks swimming around them, Takane couldn't bring herself to stop staring at him. He looked definitely enthralled, and the corners of his eyes crinkled up as his smile grew. Haruka grabbed her shoulders, and shook her body.

"Sharks! Takane!"

"Yes, I saw," she chuckled a little, and this time she actually tried to stop looking at him and look at the glass. The sharks were swimming in a lazy speed, but Haruka still looked as if he was watching the most interesting thing in the world.

The silence descended on both of them, as they kept quietly staring at the glass. There wasn't people in there anymore, and they were the only ones watching the sharks right now. Takane squinted at Haruka, and her eyes met his. His cheeks suddenly burned red, and he quickly turned around to look at the glass again, hiding half of his face with the plushie he was holding. Takane couldn't help blushing as well, since that meant he's been _staring_ at her, and, to be quite honest, he still was shooting her looks.

"What is it?"

"What?"

"Why are you staring at me?"

Haruka seemed to have froze for a moment, but he quickly tried to laugh it off by putting on his face an obviously faked smile. "Staring? Why would I be…? That's… I mean… uh…" as if the fake smile wasn't enough, he let out a forced chuckle before looking away.

Takane frowned, because Haruka was definitely lying. And she knows he doesn't lie unless he has a good reason. That, and he is also really, _really_ bad at lying. And he was starting to talk way too much about things that didn't have anything to do with the subject, and that's what he does when he's nervous (or when people find out he's lying.)  
But Takane's gaze was stronger than any of Haruka's dumb excuses or babblings, and without even saying anything, she was able to make him shut up.

The boy looked down at the floor, hiding his mouth with the stuffed seal, which made his voice sound muffled when he talked. "Takane, can… can I ask you something?"

"…Um, sure? Go ahead…"

"Why didn't you tell me today was your birthday?"

The question echoed inside Takane's head, and she blinked a few times before looking back at the sharks. She closed her eyes, and bit her lower lip, thinking of the right answer. "How did you know…?" that wasn't the right answer at all. But her mouth kind of says what it pleases, it seems.

"When you didn't want to tell me that time I asked you in highschool, I asked sensei later," Haruka replied, smiling fondly at her. "I've wanted to hang out with you that day! But… things happened and…"

Takane remembers. She remembers her birthdays from the past, the first birthday she had after meeting Haruka, he had an attack. He didn't _know_ it was her birthday (or that's what she thought back then) but that attack he had that day, actually had hurt her, more than usual. And the second they could have spend together– well, she was pretty busy thinking he was already dead. And the next ones were just the same.  
And then, Takane remembered the call from last night. Haruka literally called her _right_ at twelve o' clock. And when she picked up the phone, he didn't really say anything in particular.

"Last night… did you– did you call me to tell me happy birthday?"

"Yes," when he gave her the positive answer, the boy approached his hand at Takane to try grabing hers, but she tightened the hold of her clothes in embarrassment, so he only grabbed her wrist in a soft hold. "H – happy birthday!"

Haruka reached out the plushie at her, and on a reflex, Takane welcomed it on her chest with open arms. And as another reflex, she hid her blush by burying her face on it.

"But… did you have a good day?" Haruka asked, sounding a little concerned. The girl couldn't help frowning, but he probably didn't get to see her.

Takane doesn't have anything against birthdays– she just doesn't have good memories of the ones she's had. Honestly, she doesn't remember any of her birthdays to have been at least a little bit nice. And to her, it was only that– she was born that day, it shouldn't be such a big deal.

Ah, and her nineteenth birthday. When everyone thought she was dead and the only person who was actually with her, wanted her deleted from his computer, in other words; dead. Just great.

But today, was different. It was her birthday, and at the same time, it was a good day. Takane smiled, mentally thanking Seal for hiding it. Even though, seconds later, she found herself looking up at him, showing him her sheepish smile.

"I… had a great day."

"Really!?" Takane watched how Haruka's expression changed from shyness and concern to excitement, and it only made her blush even harder as she nodded. "Ah, I'm glad!"

"Yeah, well… thanks," she hugged tighter the plushie closer to her chest, and she hadn't hear Haruka moving closer to her. The girl turned her head to his direction to look at him, but her movements had brought the kiss he had deliberated to be on her cheek, to be actually on her mouth.

It took Takane more than a moment to process what was _happening_ , even if it only was a brush of lips. They were mantaining eye contact, and Haruka seemed as confused as she was herself, but the seconds kept going, and instead of breaking apart, the boy deepened the kiss by closing his eyes a pressing even closer their lips together. Takane was way too petrified to even do a thing about it, thinking that probably the clock's alarm was going to go on in a moment… Except that, nope, it wasn't a dream, and she could clearly feel Haruka's nose smooshed against her cheek as he kissed her.

"Aw, I'm so jealous, I'd like to have a boyfriend, too…"

"But you just broke up with yours last week!"

"That's _completely_ different!"

Takane's eyes flickered open in less than just a second as she heard the femenine voices coming from a considerably far spot, and she could see how Haruka still had his own eyes closed. She grabbed his shoulders, and made him separate his face from hers. On impulse, Takane hid again her face on the plushie, and the dreadful silence that was filling her ears now was just horrible. In the voiceless minutes Takane tried to avoid thinking about what could be going through Haruka's mind, as she tried to concentrate her attention into something else, and her eyesight landed on her sneakers' cords, not really sure what to say next.

"Takane?" Haruka's voice made her hug Seal the amazing plushie hide-blush in an even tougher way, and really, she felt her face melting by this point. "I think we should go get cake. It can't be a perfect birthday without cake."

Takane laughed before she could try avoid doing it, but she didn't try not to smile, not really sure why. She didn't mind either when Haruka grabbed her hand to guide her with him.  
They've missed some of the exhibitions, but they were ready to call it a day.


End file.
